Wonderful Murun Members!

We did a whirlwind of visits to these dear members before leaving Murun.  It was so hard to leave them!  They were such a wonderful introduction to Mongolia for us!  We will remember them forever!

This is our district.  When we left Elder Bataa and Elder Batbileg were the missionaries there.  And then, of course, us and Puje.

We did a few service projects as a district.  Here we were cutting wood for Munkhbayar's mother, Khorloo.
The Elders chopped the wood and we stacked it.  We did a pretty good stack which they said would last about 1-1/2 to 2 weeks!

 It was interesting to see how the frost formed on Elder Bataa's hair!  He said he wasn't cold though!

 On one Friday game night we were taught how to play the Ankle Bones games.  I was surprised it took so many bones and that there were several games to play with them.  This one is the Horse Race.  Alan really got into the game and Oyundalia sent some Ankle Bones home with him.  She eventually ended up giving them to him.  She said she makes them and could easily make more!  They are the actual sheep ankle bones!

 Dorjhand had this puzzle which he gave Alan to figure out.  And he did!  He said the first time it was pretty easy, but he it took awhile the second time to remember how it was done.  This is Oyundalia doing the puzzle.

 The Mongolians in Murun really liked my bread and we would take it on our visits and leave it with them.  They were always so excited and appreciative.  Well, Oyundalia wanted to know how to make it, so one day before we left we went over to her house and made bread.  The only real difference in our recipes was that I put sugar in mine and she didn't.  Anyway, she had a wood fired oven and I was a little concerned about how it would cook, but it did fine.  Apparently Mongolians like really dark crust because she left it in the oven about 10 minutes longer than I would have.  These two loaves turned out pretty good.  I left the rest of the dough for her to bake.

 Getting the milk to the right temperature on the wood stove was a bit tricky, but I could see how doing it that way all the time would make it just as routine as me making it my way all the time.  When the fire up those wood stoves to cook, it sure heats the house up and it gets really hot!

And they fed us again!  We probably ate at their house more than any other place in Murun!  They just pull out this mat, lay it out on the floor and we all sit around it eating family style!  It reminds me a lot of eating in Japan--right down to the legs going to sleep from sitting like that for so long!

  

This is Jamyan, a retired veterinarian.  His wife, Dolgorjav, is a member and she so wanted us to teach him the gospel.  We visited several times and the last time the missionaries went with us and he agreed to have the lessons!  We were so excited, but wished he would have decided that earlier so we could be more a part of his teaching.  He is such a nice man.  Here he is showing us his snuff bottle.  Etiquette say we take the bottle, admire how beautiful it is, smell it and then return it to him without taking any snuff.  I guess those who do snuff share it as it is passed around.  Don't know for sure since we were never anywhere where nonmembers actually did it!

 This is Jamyan and Dolgorjav in their beautiful Mongolia deels.  When we said we wanted a picture of them, they hurried to dress up so we could take this one.  They are such a cute couple and, even after their many years of marriage, they are still so in love.  We hope he joins the church so their love can last forever!

 
The reports we get from Murun are that he is still taking the lessons and is making progress toward understanding the gospel teachings. We hope he is baptized soon!

 

 One of our last visits was to Nyamdalai's and his mother.  He is getting ready to serve a mission.  We told him a number of times he would have to cut his hair before his interview with the Mission President.  He still hadn't cut it when we left, but was working on his papers.  We hope he gets out soon!  We desperately need more missionaries!

This is the outhouse at one of the homes we visited.  It's pretty cold to want to loiter here for long!  It also seems it would be more comfortable if they would build a throne instead of just standing or squatting!  But it works for them and meets their needs!